Under the eaves, Gloria leaned against the dark brown lacquered wooden door frame with one hand.

"Come in."

She maintained her aloofness as a senior sister, casually motioning for the two to enter.

After closing the door, Gloria hurriedly ran to Sigrid with a hint of worry, her tearful eyes as if she had missed her for a long time.

Lan Qi couldn't help but think that she was indeed raised by Sigrid, with such skillful face-changing.

"Your Grace Bishop, are you alright?"

"Not so good, but Ascensão is also suffering."

Sigrid replied briefly, not hiding anything from Gloria. As martial artists of the same lineage, Gloria should be well aware of her current state of aura.

Gloria looked at Sigrid and the Holy Son in surprise.

Although the Bishop hadn't told her in detail where they had been for the past month, even just these few words were a huge amount of information for her.

Reaching the living room, Gloria invited Sigrid and Lan Qi to sit on the sofa, while she stood aside like a servant.

Sigrid sat elegantly on the sofa, maintaining her usual lazy and domineering posture, while Lan Qi naturally sat on the other side of the same sofa.

This made Gloria, who was about to say something, suddenly stop.

Although no Holy Son or Holy Daughter under a Cardinal Bishop had ever been so presumptuous as to sit on an equal footing with the Bishop, Gloria realized that as a student, she shouldn't be teaching the headmaster how to do things.

Afterward, Gloria, with proper etiquette, pulled down the heavy, dark floor-to-ceiling curtains of the living room. When she returned, her eyes were filled with undisguised anxiety and worry.

"Your Grace Bishop, you're finally back."

The spacious living room became a private space for the three to communicate. The soundproof magic device isolated the noise from the outside world, providing a quiet background for the upcoming conversation.

"What's wrong?"

Sigrid frowned in confusion. She and the Holy Son had indeed been gone for a long time, but the Imperial Capital didn't seem to have any major problems.

"In the month or so you were gone, many changes occurred in the south of Proto."

Gloria sat on the other sofa, her face clearly not looking good.

"You have been sued by the Imperial Military. They suspect you committed a large-scale massacre in the north, and brutally murdered many Imperial residents while fleeing."

Gloria took out the information and intelligence summary she had collected from the Batie Branch during this time from a compartment under the coffee table.

In addition to various investigation evidences and obvious traces of battle from the Batie Church given by the northern provinces, there were also some afterimages of video crystal stones.

From these images, it seemed that the Batie Church was destroying towns and wantonly slaughtering residents, while the Silent Extinction Bishop was fighting hard to defend and protect the town.

"Now there is various evidence that can prove that the Batie Church, you, went to the northern border provinces and found Ascensão in the city-states to carry out a series of battles that disregarded the safety of residents and can be called massacres."

Gloria added with a pale face.

Many people knew about the grievances between the Batie Church and the Silent Extinction Church, but this was the first time they had fought so wantonly in the city-states of the Empire.

Since the northern border front was Ascensão's garrison, Sigrid must have taken the initiative to go there and start the war.

And the Batie branches in various parts of the Proto Empire were already in a mess.

The reputation of the Resurrection Church was already bad. If they could take this opportunity to denounce the Resurrection Church, many high-ranking Imperial officials and nobles would not let it go.

As the saying goes, when a wall falls, everyone pushes it. Once an opening is made, the enemies' enemies will also swarm in.

The Batie branch priests in the south, who had finally gained some recognition, were once again subjected to unprecedented exclusion, and even gradually intended to expel them. The Batie branch priests had already embarked on a path of common prosperity with the residents, and could no longer use harsh attitudes towards the residents.

Losing trust was the most fatal thing for their development direction.

"Ascensão..."

Sigrid flipped through the various daily news reports from this period, and her expression gradually became stern.

Ascensão probably contacted the Imperial Capital as soon as possible after that battle, and began to reverse black and white, blocking all her paths, and even wanted to completely wipe out the existence of the Batie branch.

If she and the Holy Son were successfully captured by the Silent Extinction branch in the north, Ascensão would probably send all the main forces to the south to hunt down the Batie branch priests.

"There are also many guys from the Silent Extinction branch or other forces who disguised themselves as our priests to deliberately harm residents, and some disguised as residents to deliberately create conflicts, causing trouble in many places. They seized this opportunity to constantly smear our Batie branch priests, and even lost many colleagues."

Gloria's expression was resentful and bitter, but she could only say helplessly.

Although the authenticity of everything still needs to be judged and considered by the Empire, it is not needed for the Imperial residents. Public opinion is all they see.

With the Silent Extinction branch adding fuel to the fire, the pressure has already come like a mountain torrent and tsunami.

Knowing that this was a war of public opinion, and that the Silent Extinction branch was planning everything, but even the Batie Bishop who was being targeted was not present, and the Batie branch priests were even more unable to fight back, and could only try not to make the situation worse, praying that the Batie Bishop would return soon.

Gloria knew that the Bishop would not be impulsive and indiscriminately kill innocent people with Ascensão in the city-states, but now it has become this situation. Even if the truth is Ascensão's conspiracy, they cannot defend themselves.

Sigrid put down the pages in her hand. The calmness in her pupils seemed to be unprecedented anger, and the murderous intent on her body made Gloria, who was on the side, feel frightened.

Even if the Bishop's aura was not even stronger than hers now, only that tempered spiritual will made her always look like a little girl in front of her.

"Don't worry, Sid. I'm here."

Lan Qi's gentle voice penetrated Sigrid's manic thoughts.

She looked at Lan Qi in astonishment, and the murderous aura on her body dissipated instantly.

Lan Qi's face was as peaceful as ever, nodding to her, making her suddenly feel at ease.

Those steady emerald eyes would give people an incredibly reliable feeling, making her feel that as long as this man was here, all the troubles could be solved for her.

"If Ascensão thinks that the advantage is on his side now, wouldn't it be great?"

Lan Qi leaned on the sofa, smiling naturally, as if he and Ascensão were running towards each other.

"...Are you just afraid that Ascensão won't dare to come to the Imperial Capital to participate in the vote in a week?"

Sigrid looked at him and narrowed her eyes.

In the previous battle in the north, where both sides were injured, neither the Silent Extinction Bishop Ascensão nor the black-robed man saw the true identity of the Batie Holy Son.

According to common sense, the Holy Sons and Holy Daughters of the Resurrection Church were all shady figures not long ago, and their real social identities would not be too ostentatious, so it was impossible to bring much influence in the Empire.

Originally, this should be an absolutely neutral place that would not favor any of the Silent Extinction, Batie, or Mourning branches.

But Ascensão had one thing he never dreamed of—

This Batie Holy Son is now a highly talked about figure in Herløm, Locke McCarthy.

(End of this chapter)